Akebonoyama Park in Kashiwa
We arrived at Akebonoyama Park at around 10:00 after hitting some traffic. We opted to stop in the first parking lot we encountered which was a little small, but had tons of sakura trees! Kashiwa is in Chiba, a little north of Tokyo. Sakura supposedly hit full bloom about 5-7 days prior in this region, and while some of the trees were starting to shed petals, this area was still plenty pink in some parts!
It was a sunny Saturday morning and there were a lot of families spread out on the grass and a bunch of food stalls near the cherry blossom trees.
This park is actually pretty big and we continued on towards the tulip area!
Tulip areas wouldn't be complete without the little dutch windmill lol.
We explored the park a little longer, enjoying the remaining sakura with a bunch of the petals serenely raining down when there was a gust of wind (many of the trees were quite large, so it was really nice), fresh air and sunlight before circling back to the car.
I had put this park on the itinerary just as a small stop so the driving stints wouldn't be too long, and we'd have a good reason to walk around and then stop for lunch. It was in a decent location and reasonably large/varied. Although the sakura wasn't 100% this weekend, you could tell it was probably amazing about a week ago (despite what was likely rainy weather). And we definitely had the right timing for the tulips with the clear blue sky that made all the colors pop!
Lunch at Turban Kitakashiwa
I bookmarked a few restaurants that I had just clicked through near the location of Akebonoyama Park while on Google Maps, and this was a restaurant that had really good reviews and not too far by car. I had a ramen and tonkatsu place marked as well, but my husband opted for Indian food from the choices, and it ended up being a great decision. There is parking in specific numbered spaces in the back of the restaurant (mentioned in the Google reviews).
We arrived about 30 min after they opened for lunch and was able to be seated inside right away (it filled up while we were eating). After taking a bit to figure out the lunch sets, we ended up with 2 keema curries, 2 chicken curries, 2 regular naan, 2 cheese naan (extra charge, but worth it) and my dad's set included a tandoori chicken and a kebab chicken. Lunch sets also included a mini salad and a drink (cold chai tea, lassi, mango lassi and orange juice not pictured).
The naan was absolutely delicious and a very generous portion (we didn't even need the refill). For the curry, we went with spicy level 2 and 3 (I think 5 was the highest), but those who wanted spice didn't really get much at 3. If you want spicy, definitely get at least a 4, if not 5!
If we're ever in the area again, I would definitely stop here. The staff were patient, the parking wasn't too difficult and the food was excellent.
I added this park to the route just the day before we left when my husband and I finally figured out that we were big peach blossom fans lol. There was a blooming tree in our neighborhood that we admired, but had thought it was just a weird sakura tree. His coworker informed him that it was actually hanamomo! With that in mind, I was searching to see if there were any places we'd pass for it, and Koga Park was actually having the last weekend of their Hanamomo Matsuri during our road trip!
Upon driving into the park, we were greeted by a bunch of sakura trees. Since Ibaraki is a little more north, we weren't quite as past full bloom for sakura (compared to Tokyo and Kashiwa).
As part of the festival, there were tons of food booths & entertainment/demonstrations, even some hula performances. (Lots of sakura trees in the background here too, I think - they were much more magnificent in person.)
But the main reason we came to the park was for the peach blossom trees, so we went to search for them!
Actually there were quite a few types of hanamomo here that had already reached peak and were shedding flowers/balding. Since this was the last week of the matsuri, it wasn't totally unexpected, and I was still happy to see the different types of peach blossoms up close after only recently coming to know about them.
I loved seeing all the varieties in color, especially the fluffy ones where there were white, light pink and magenta petals all on one flower!
As we were making our way back to the car, we passed this small section of this extremely marigold yellow plant? My dad's plant ID app said it was "japanese allspice" but we're not really sure if that's correct. Do you know what it is? Whatever it is, I had to get a few pictures with it, haha.
We stopped for some hanamomo soft cream as well (this is the milk & peach mix version).
Back in the parking lot, there were more peach blossom trees! These were all the bi-color, multi-layered type that we were particularly interested in and supposedly in full bloom.
Um hello? The colors?? all on one tree?
While it wasn't the most ideal conditions, I still think it was a really interesting experience to see all the different types of hanamomo at this park. The best part is that we didn't have to sidetrack significantly for it and was able to incorporate it into our trip last minute without much fuss. It was only too bad we were all still super full from lunch, so we didn't partake in any of the matsuri food!
Four Seasons Bamboo Forest Wakayama Farm
We checked into our hotel in Utsunomiya at around 16:00 and took a short break before heading out again. I wanted the sun to be setting for the our next stop - Wakayama Farm. It's in Utsunomiya, about a 20 minute drive from city center. While you can visit the bamboo forest during the day (and that's your only choice during weekdays), on the weekends, they extend the hours and have a nighttime light-up/illumination! We arrived just at 1800 - the sun was starting to set, but we still had some natural light. (Note that during other seasons, you may want to adjust your timing.)
Parking was easy in their designated lot and then we paid for admission. There is an additional charge (double the regular price) for the night time. Our group was briefed on the grounds (which route had the lights) and was provided a lantern on a stick and a map to help guide our way. The initial walk out wasn't all that exciting during this season, but it's really nice when you get to the displays!
There are established/cleared paths, but it seems you are welcome to walk anywhere/through the trees if you want to. However, watch out for large spider webs - especially hard to see at night!
I particularly enjoyed the light up effect with the cut out designs in the bamboo!
And they even had 2 swings! One is quite tall and grand looking and the other is a bit shorter and plain. These don't photograph well at night because of the motion, but were a really cool feature. The swings are quite low to the ground though.
From the map, it didn't seem like there was a lot to the night route, but there's actually quite a lot to see and photograph. Bamboo forests are impressive during the day, but have a much different feeling at night.
We ended up staying for about an hour (not including looking the museum or gift shop), which was honestly longer than I anticipated given the size of the space. It was a lot of fun and curated very well!
Dinner at Utsunomiya Gyoza-Kai (Kirasse) (I think?)
We returned to the hotel to park the car and then headed out on foot for dinner towards Utsunomiya city center. This area is known for gyoza which is a food that my husband particularly enjoys. Located in the basement of a Don Quixote, Utsunomiya Gyoza-Kai features a food court style ordering system where the major/popular local gyoza shops offer their menus in a single place. Unfortunately, we got there quite late (which I hadn't even realized), and they weren't accepting any new people for the waitlist which is done through LINE.
However, just on the opposite side of the basement floor is another smaller section with a similar looking but smaller (I think?) menu that was accepting standby patrons, and we were able to be seated immediately. I don't really understand the exact difference or how they're associated, but we were eager to eat, so we took the table and ordered off the menu.
We didn't have a lot to base our decisions on, but ended up with 4 on the right side (all 6 gyoza on the plate are the same type...from the same restaurant, I think lol) and then 1 set from the left side of the menu where each gyoza was a different type/from a different restaurant but all a similar style?
We were there pretty close to closing (last order was called right after we got our food), so we didn't have a lot of time to figure out the menu more, but we were happy to try this variety and have been seated at all. We each had our favorites from the sample that we tried lol. Gyoza in Utsunomiya --> success!
There is a bunch of gyoza merchandise in the middle of the basement area and also this gyoza gacha machine off to the side that only accepts cashless payments. I had just recently figured out how to use PayPay, so we gave it a go lol.
With that, we were done and just walked back to the hotel for the night.
It was quite a full day, especially for my husband who did all the driving (about 6 hours total this day). We started a bit south of Yokohama, crossed Tokyo to get to Kashiwa, went a little north into Ibaraki and then finally ended in Utsunomiya. The weather was nice and sunny, we saw so many flowers, and all of the activities felt like they were in nature (versus shopping in malls or going to indoor museums). It really felt like spring!
But this isn't our final destination - Day 2 in Zao, Fukushima and Koriyama coming soon!
Hello a landscape designer gyaru here! The yellow plant is Forsythia ovata :)
ReplyDeleteAMAZING! Thank you!!
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